New books are great. I just finished N. D. Wilson’s excellent Death by Living, which reminds me of Chesterton with its fresh, poetic prose, and its ability to awaken me to the truth I had almost forgotten.

Photo credit: William Hoiles

But I think I have been reading too many new books, and C. S. Lewis hits home when he writes on the value of the old and the primary:

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. … The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.

…

Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it.

…

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.

(If you’ve never read Lewis’ complete introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, excerpted above, you can find it here.)

So I think my next read will be Pascal’s Pensées, one of the older works on my list to read, though not quite a typical book (Pensées meaning “thoughts,” and Pascal’s book having been left incomplete at his death).

What old books do you recommend, or plan to read next?